In the diagnosis and/or treatment of disorders of the body, it is known to physically alter the condition or function of hollow viscera or other internal body vessels. Surgical procedures on such vessels include reconstruction of natural tissue, substitution and bypass techniques with natural or artificial implants. Surgery is recognized as always carrying some degree of risk to the patient, both during its actual performance and in postoperative complications or side effects. These risks, of course, are of major concern when the surgery involves the invasion of the great cavity of the trunk of the human body. This is especially true in treatment of such viscera as the heart, liver, or intestines, and in particular when such surgery involves these organs themselves.
In surgical treatment of obesity, for example, the abdominal cavity is exposed to allow reconstruction of the digestive tract, in essence, to reduce the internal surface area available for food digestion or absorption of digested substances. The former technique, a gastric bypass, may be accomplished by anastomosing a minor portion of the stomach to the jejunum while leaving the major portion connected to the duodenum. The latter of these techniques, an intestinal bypass, involves the short-circuiting of a majority of the combined lengths of the jejunum and ileum by connecting the first part of the jejunum to the last part of the ileum.
Both of these operations are deemed to involve such high risk to the patient that they are considered only as a lifesaving undertaking for morbidly obese individuals. Beyond statistically significant operative and overall mortality rates, reported complications following the gastric bypass include marginal ulcers and wound infections. The intestinal bypass involves similar mortality rates and, reportedly, a greater number of postoperative complications and side effects. These include pulmonary emboli, wound infections, gastrointestinal hemorrhage, renal failure, and numerous other disorders. The nature, severity, and frequency of these problems have in fact led to doubts as to the advisability of the techniques for treatment of obesity.